Venturing beyond the boundaries of the Earth’s atmosphere is undoubtedly a remarkable feat. Space travel is a highly revered topic with few successful cases recorded in history. Among the many legends that have traveled beyond Earth is Valentina Tereshkova. Valentina became the first woman to embark on space travel, etching her name in history books. Here are interesting facts about the legendary woman.
Her background
Valentina Tereshkova was a Russian astronaut born in Maslennikova, near Yaroslavl, Russia, on March 6, 1937. She was born into an industrial family; her father worked as a tractor driver, and her mother worked in the textile industry.
She developed a hobby for parachuting. Her interest led her to start a skydiving club in her community, and she made her first professional jump in 1959 at age 22. When the Soviet government began the selection of female astronauts, she applied and was selected in 1962.
How she got the job
Tereshkova was selected to join the cosmonaut corps because of her outstanding parachuting experience. Her selection involved rigorous and competitive trials. Only 5 out of 400 candidates were selected.
The essence of the selection was to include skilled female professionals in the process of the historic spaceflight of Yuri Gagarin. The selected cosmonauts spent several months training for flights. They also underwent pilot training and made over 100 parachute jumps.
The space mission
After the successful completion of the Vostok 5 mission by cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky on June 15, Tereshkova was designated to fly on the morning of June 16, 1963. She and her backup, Solovyova, were both dressed in their appropriate spacesuit and escorted to the launch pad by bus.
Valentina urinated on the bus tires for good luck, following the Gagarin tradition. After checking her spacesuit’s communication and life-support system, she was sealed in the Vostok. She was launched into space after a 2-hour countdown.
Her first mission
Tereshkova’s first space mission occurred on June 16, 1963, when she was 26. After much preparation, she was launched on this solo mission. The mission aimed to orbit the Earth and return; this was an essential part of the Vostok 6 mission.
The mission took 36 hours, and her solo space plane orbited around the Earth 48 times before landing back. After completing the mission, Tereshkova cemented her name as one of the legends of space travel, making her the first young civilian woman to go on a solo space mission.
Life after space
Tereshkova married Andriyan Nikolayev, her fellow astronaut, who also played an active role in the success of the Vostok 3 mission in November 1963. Their union was blessed with a daughter, Yelena, in June 1964, making her the first child to have both parents as astronauts.
She went on to contest for various political positions in her community and received numerous awards and honors. In a recent interview, Tereshkova, age 86, expressed her delight in space exploration and highlighted the impact of space exploration on her life.
